Update:Regarding the recent conflict - a few reminders.
All, In light of recent developments in the Civil Watch vs Saldaen Cavalry/ Shienaran Lancers/ White Tower conflict, it is time for a few reminders: Playerkilling: We've had a few questions regarding people being killed or attacked by other Lightside characters. This is a reminder that pk in this game is largely unrestricted, the only exceptions being the Eye of the World zone and griefing. Sameside playerkilling is allowed, but may have roleplay consequences. Unless it is griefing or attacks in the Eye, this is something for players to resolve and act on, not immortals. Dead Men Tell No Tales rule Please remember that if you die, your testimony with regards to any attack is invalid. You either have to live to tell the tale (literally) or have narrated and a random person be a witness as to your narrate or demise. Before you post anyone got killed, you may want to verify word got out the proper way before the record of someone's death is used as illegitimate "evidence". Flagging someone as a Known Darkfriend There are set criteria determining when someone can and will be flagged as a Known Darkfriend. In the past, we have sometimes applied that flag to people who performed actions that could be classified as darkfriendry. However, the Chosen felt there were issues with that and we have since stopped applying the darkfriend flag for those reasons. Additionally, there would be concerns about people accusing others of being a darkfriend and then passing judgement on whether the flag would be applied (see, they're a darkfriend) or not (oh, guess not a darkfriend). That would affect the way players treat the situation and make immortals a darkfriend detection tool. Letting players play the game vs immortal intervention At the beginning of the conflict, the Watcher staff decided to take a back seat and let players play the game. We have to remind you all that over the years players have requested repeatedly that Watchers stop micromanaging and let players play the game, so we left this to players. Over the course of this conflict, we have only acted on appeals and only then intervened, if necessary. These were generally met with resistance from players essentially not liking that they were told they were doing it wrong. Surprisingly, as the conflict continued, there were more and more cries for immortals to intervene. The Watchers taking a backseat has however meant that some people broke rules and got away with it. Normally, these things are appealable to the clan ombudsman. If a clan has no ombudsman, it falls to the council to do the right thing and make sure the rest of the clan's members follow the rules. Should you feel a clan/ ombudsman/ councillor did not make the right decision, then you may appeal to immortals. Please do appeal to the clan if you feel they are doing something that goes against the rules and escalate to immortals if you feel the appeal does not yield the correct result. Apparently we can't always trust players to do the right thing. In the future, if you find yourself in the position where you are repeatedly harassing someone (whether this be during a single log-in, or over multiple log-ins, after they have told you to stop), you will find yourself NO-TELLED. If you consistently harass someone on narrates personally, and this is either reported or noticed while an immortal is invisible, you will be NO-SHOUTED. If, however, you report a player for violations of either of these--personal harassment or constant global harassment, and that is found to be a frivolous report then you will be either NO-TELLED or NO-SHOUTED. Reports of House Guest abuse by their very nature are taken seriously. We aim to prevent cyber-bullying. We do not condone or abide by any individual player targeting. The Staff is stretched thin at this current time, so please take your reports seriously. Do not wander into subjective territory regarding conceptual beliefs--rather state only what happened. Use the basic premise of how to report a bug as a model for how to report a House Guest violation. Notify the person that you are making a House Guest violation so that they may put together their log of the event. Do not omit scenes from your log that the other person might include. If a player is notelled or noshouted, they will be notified on the actions that earned them the offense. Character separation: In recent weeks, we have noticed that many people are apparently struggling with the concept of character separation. We have observed many irregularities, with some players going out of their way to play angles in the conflict as a player, not as their individual characters. While this is not a roleplay enforced mud, please remember that the moment you join a clan, you will be expected to adhere to certain roleplay standards. This includes a decent form of character separation. We can all agree that if you know someone is a male channeler from playing with them on your Dragonsworn or trolloc, your Tower alt should not be warranting them. However, we have observed people blurring the lines and even crossing them in this conflict and prior to it. Some examples include: *Seeing events unfold on one alt, posting the log on another alt. *Viewing things on one clan's forums and posting that information to another clan's forums on an alt. *Taking out assassination contracts using other alts than those who are involved in the conflict. *Lashing out against participants in the conflict on alt characters that are not affiliated with the warring factions. *Arguing against individual players on every available alt that is involved in the conflict. *Actively trying to involve alts' clans in the conflict, borne out of an OOC grudge. *Speaking derisively, with hostility to and about characters in the conflict, their players and threatening their unaffiliated alts. *Trying to sollicit player support for petitioning the immortals to get a player banned. *Dragging in Real Life politics to strengthen one's arguments. Some of the items on the list are clearly abuse. Other items venture into the territory of cyberbullying and thus constitute a violation of the Houseguest Rule. We are not taking sides, but before people use this post to jump on the anti-CW bandwagon, it must be noted that we have seen the worst offenders among other participants in the conflict. Many people have mailed us about a certain player being toxic and being the sole cause of the "ruined atmosphere" of the game. However, many of us feel that everyone who has abused their power and influence and/or broken character separation and/or perpetuated the conflict and/or lashed out on globals is a guilty party in this. Please take a moment to review your own behavior of the past weeks and see if you aren't part of this vicious cycle that caused the atmosphere to arguably take a turn for the worse. If you can't control yourself and you can't keep yourself from influencing multiple clans as a player as opposed to your characters, we strongly recommend you only play one character in any given conflict and stay away from participating in the conflict on alts as well as various clans' forums as well. If you can't resist the urge, feel free to ask an imm to temporarily remove your forum access - it can be restored later. With regards to the lack of character separation, OOC grudges and bullying, consider this your last warning. Watchers and abilities We must remind you of a recent announcement: http://www.wotmod.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3284. As stated, responses to inquiries may take longer. This most definitely applies to addressing any major issues, which this conflict falls under. While we can see all the forums involved, we are not intervening in clan activities or discussions. Additionally, things evolve so rapidly that if we make a decision and continue to discuss it, the decision becomes obsolete as the situation shifts. We will not step in and make the decision for you in this case. If you are a player that is bothered by conflict, perhaps you should strive to end the conflict. A player-driven solution is your option. ~WoTmud Staff